My sweet hubby turned 26 today! He worked today so we celebrated his burfday last night! I actually figured out how to use the grill and made BBQ chicken, corn, these really yummy potatoes, and watermelon! I had been asking Peter for the last week or so what he wanted to do for his birthday and he said he really just wanted to have dinner at home with our little family. So that's what we did:) It was perfect!

Poor Peter had to listen to my horrific singing. Usually you're in a group ya know so if you can't sing, your voice gets drowned out my others. Not this time, it was a solo, but he got the point:))

After Peter opened his gifts I asked him to stand below his sign so I could take a picture. He laughed like "are you kidding me???" But the sweet man humored me and I got a photo. He told me this was something we do for our kids, but I reminded him that he is a kid. At heart. I asked him if he could be less normal and more cheesy and he looked at me with a blank stare for a few seconds....then busted out this...

That's my babe and I'm CRAZY about him! Happy birthday lover!

Holy moly holy cross is awesome!

yo our church is launching October 9th, 2011! Woop woop! Last Saturday we gathered to hit the neighborhoods of NW Tucson and invite them to the public launch of Holy Cross Church! I stayed at the community center with my dear friend Jenna' and the babies. Here they are! Aren't they all adorable:))Please meet Cohen! You can call him Jeevs or Cohen, he will probably respond to either. At least I'm giving it a shot. Isn't he a doll baby?
Here they are! Cohen, Aubrey and Nevaeh! Aubrey is Nevaeh's cousin and they are the same size! Aubrey is about 5 months younger though. It's pretty magical if you ask me.

Daddy's Home!!

Nevaeh is crawling around at lightning speed and pulling herself up on everything. She gets so excited when she hears Daddy walk through that door! I have tried to capture it a few times and this is the best I could get. It's cute but it doesn't quite capture her excitement and facial expressions the whole time. Who wouldn't want to come home to a face like that?!

hOuSeWaRmInG pArTy 9*17*11

We have moved and are starting to feel semi-settled. Buying our first home has been such a beautiful process. God's hand was clearly in it from the beginning. We first saw the home as a short sale. We put an offer on it and about 5 weeks later learned that it did not go through due to the owners bank not accepting a short sale. So we kept looking. I kept my eye on MLS and saw it pop back up about a month later. "Could it really be on the market as a foreclosure so quickly?" I pondered. Well turns out it was! And so we made another offer on the home, only this time for less money! And we got it!

We got the keys on August 5th and you better believe we camped out in the new digs the first night. We brought a borrowed air mattress, the pack n play, Nevaeh and the coffee maker. It was fabulous. We didn't get much sleep but we have great memories of the first night!
And of course when God blesses you with a fabulous new house, the next thing in order is a PARTY! so we sent out about 60 housewarming invitations and on Saturday, September 17, about 45 people joined us in breaking in the new house. Unfortunately I didn't take ANY pictures at the party, just pre-party! Boo! I need to get better at remembering to have my camera with me at all times! Our beautiful neighbors on both sides came over and we met them. Friends and family attended. Even my sweet parents and brother drove in from Prescott and San Diego just to help us celebrate! Love them!
There is no significance of the color choice (someone asked me that). Peter and I just went to Walmart and picked out the table clothes we liked. Then I went to the fabric store to pick out fabric to make my pennant banner. Super easy! And I bought tissue paper at target and made some cute and easy pom poms. The center pieces were an idea from Pinterest, Kerr bottles with clear stones at the bottom, filled 3/4 with water and a floating candle. I tied Raffia around the neck to add a little flair. Cute!
The backyard is definitely one of our favorite parts of the house! It won't be long before Nevaeh is running all around it! and Daddy chasing her of course.
We had a blast with all of our friends and family and are so thankful for everyone who was able to make it out!

9/11

Daddy was working today, which I think was pretty neat. His fire department was doing a community event at a local church here in Tucson. The church held 3 services and each was well attended with folks piling in to remember 9/11/01. Wow how things have changed these last 10 years. In our country and in our individual lives. I will never forget that Tuesday morning. I was just a freshmen. A baby. I remember my Mom coming downstairs to wake me up like she always did, but something was very different. She said "we've been attacked, come look at his." Eyes half shut I drug my feet to the couch to see what it was she was talking about. I remember going to school that day and the halls seemed packed with people but silent. Every period our eyes were glued to the television as we sat watching the devastation unfold. Most seats were occupied, but every now and then there would be a period where I would sit next to an empty desk. A few people were suffering first hand. Family members worked at the WTC or for NYFD. I remember my freshmen year social studies teacher saying, "you are watching history be made. You're children will read of this in books, like you read of the Boston Massacre now." It was surreal. Devastating. Heart wrenching to watch people jump from buildings.

We will never forget, that's the truth.

Ten years later I'm so proud to be married to a fire fighter. Although Tucson doesn't get action like NY does, I have no doubt in my mind if my husband would have been there 10 years ago, he would have risked his life to save anybody he could of. I am so thankful for those firemen from NYFD. And I'm so proud to be an American:)

8 month Nevs News

Where does the time go? I thought yesterday I called Peter and told him I was headed to the hospital. Today, boom 8 months. Well 8 months and 4 days to be exact. I will try to give you a quick update on the last 3 months!

5 months- Nevs got her first 2 teeth! They seemed to pop up out of nowhere! One day she's a toothless old man look alike and the next day, hello teeth!! Between 5 and 6 months Nevs started sitting up. At first she sat there for a second and then fell backwards, but not too long later she found her balance quite nicely and has been a sitting champ ever since.

6 months. Nevs started army crawling. More like worm crawling. It was pretty rad to watch, but that only lasted a week or so before she came full force hands and knees tearing up and down the house. Now she could enter a speed crawling race. Especially if you put something awesome in front of her like: your cell phone, a piece of paper, a beer bottle. These are the things that seems to get Nevs especially physced. Don't ask me.
7 months. Nevs started pulling herself up on everything. Chairs, walls, people, ovens, dogs. We also recently (in the last month or so) discovered Nevaeh's love for animals! It started off with Mimi and Grandpa's dog Reka. She would get so excited whenever Reka entered the room, trying to get to her however possible. Then in continued with Nana and Papa's dog Tatum. Tatum makes her laugh and squeal! Then this last weekend when we were in San Diego, we discovered it's not just doggies but cats as well. She had one eye on a cat the whole weekend. Cats are a little more patient with her. She can pull their fur and they put up with it for a little but longer than the doggies do. Also Nevaeh started saying "MAMAMAMAMAM" And while it warms my heart, she doesn't know it's me. I discovered this when she started pounding on our vacuum cleaner box saying "Mamamam." I gently reminded her that the vacuum cleaner is not her Mommy, but that I am.
And now here we are 8 months. Nevaeh is getting three top teeth. One has broken through and two are visible. Everyday is a gift. I won't take one for granted. She lights up our life every day. Peter and I have been listening and reading all about raising children, and well we definitely know we have our work cut out for us. And we couldn't be more excited.
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